Eyewitness reports of the traffic accident that injured two people and nearly caused a fatality claim that it was caused by the "reckless driving" of Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev's motorcade. A car was mangled, while its driver and a Cabinet official were injured in the incident that happened on June 24 at 4.30pm on the E76 motorway.

"They were driving like mad, they nearly smashed into me as well," eyewitness Martin Dimitrov told Dnevnik daily.

The crash happened as a government Ford Escort, a Seat with Blagoevgrad licence plates and a lorry were involved in multiple collisions. The injured people were the Seat driver and Maria Savova from the Government press office.

According to a statement released later in the day by the Blagoevgrad police, "the driver of the Seat had caused the accident by executing a hazardous overtaking manoeuvre, hitting the Government Ford Escort, which was the last vehicle in the convoy".

Numerous witnesses, however, adamantly objected to the statement, claiming it was the Government motorcade instead that was taking liberties on the road.

The Seat driver himself, Georgi Doikin, said of the event: "We were headed for Greece and around 4.25pm I saw the convoy heading in my direction from Simitli. Immediately ahead of me was a lorry, but a car from the convoy obstructed the lorry's path, which steered sideways and then I hit the lorry, then ricocheted into the last vehicle in the convoy. It all happened very quickly, the tarmac was wet and slippery" he said, quoted by Dnevnik

"They accused the injured driver of the incident but he had no guilt whatsoever, it was [the convoy] and their manic driving that caused the accident," Dnevnik quoted eyewitnesses at the scene as saying.